OUR LADY QUEEN OF PEACE

Throughout November, we will have the Books of Remembrance in the church. Please come and write in names of loved ones who have died in the past year (no need to rewrite names from previous years).  This Sunday there will be a minute silence before masses for Remembrance Sunday On 22nd November at 10.00am, please join us for a special Memorial Mass at St Peter’s to pray in particular for loved ones who have died this year, and all those who are bereaved. Refreshments will be served afterwards in the Parish Room. All are welcome.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, For many of us, when we think of Rome, we think of St Peter’s Basilica. In a Jubilee Year such as this, the entry through the Holy Door of St Peter’s is a high point of any pilgrimage. It is from the Apostolic Palace, next to St Peter’s, that the Holy Father makes his Angelus addresses and it is there that the public audiences take place, as well as significant celebrations in the life of the Church: canonisations, the inaugurations of new popes and the requiem Masses for deceased popes. Yet it is the Lateran Basilica, built originally by the Emperor Constantine, that is described as “the mother and head of all the churches of the City and the World.” It is the Cathedral Church of Rome, and popes lived in the Lateran Palace for hundreds of years. It is the Pope’s Cathedral, for he is the Bishop of Rome. It is for this reason that the whole Church celebrates this feast. It is a celebration of our unity with the Holy Father, the successor of St Peter. This Sunday’s first reading, the vision of Ezekiel of the Temple in Jerusalem, speaks of the water that flows from the Temple bringing life to the desert. So it is for the Church. The waters of baptism – in which, as St Paul tells us, we die and rise with the new life of Christ – bring us to live our lives in the love that exists in the Trinity, as members of Christ’s Church. The celebration of the dedication of any Church is a reminder, as St Paul tells us in this Sunday’s second reading, that the Church is made of the living stones of the baptised. We are the Church, called to reflect the wonder of the Gospel to the world around us. This is the mission that we have been given through our baptism – the mission that calls others to share in the wonder of the Church’s life, the life of Christ. The Lateran Basilica, the “mother of all the churches” stands as a witness to the world and a reminder to us, who are the living stones, of the mission to which we are called, in union with Pope Leo, the successor of Peter. With every blessing,  + Richard.

There will be a Healing Service with Anointing of the Sick on Thursday 13th November , 2.30pm at St Peter’s. Please email the office if you would like to be anointed: adurvalley@abdiocese.org.uk . All are welcome.

There are three Temples in today's readings at Mass. The first is the Temple described by Ezekiel from the vision he receives from God. The second is the Temple cleansed by Jesus which was rebuilt and later enhanced by Herod. The third is the body of Jesus. Ezekiel describes the ideal Temple where water trickles and then flows abundantly from the south of the threshold towards the East. This heavenly vision is a prophesy of the body of Jesus on the cross where His blood and water flow from the side of His body and spreads throughout the whole world for healing. It is said to flow east as this is the direction of worship of God. Jesus enters the Temple in Jerusalem through the East Gate and enters the Court of the Gentiles where non-Jews were to worship but He finds it full of noise and a place of consumerism. There was no place for worship and so the Gentiles were excluded. By making space and cleansing this courtyard Jesus makes it possible for everyone to worship God but He points, not to the blood of sacrificial animals, but to the blood which comes from the perfect Temple and perfect sacrifice of the Lamb of God - His body. Jesus' death makes true worship, in spirit and in truth, possible and He shows His resurrection is the antidote to our death. On Remembrance Sunday and this month of November we pray that an angel may take each soul to the gate of the door of the heavenly Temple which is Jesus, the gate and the door to the kingdom of peace and the eternal worship of God.  With my prayer for you all and our deceased parishioners. God bless you. Fr Graham

Please consider supporting our Christmas campaign, providing care parcels to local families in need. We will be collecting toiletries during November.  Please donate soap, shampoo, shower gel, toothpaste, baby products, sanitary products etc. If you would prefer to make a financial contribution, you can donate via our card machines.

Tickets are on sale for our Winter Afternoon Tea on Saturday 15th November, from 2.30 to 4.30pm in the Parish Room at St Peter’s. Tickets £15. Enjoy a selection of savoury and sweet treats, including homemade scones with jam and cream. A lovely chance to spend time with fellow parishioners and friends. All are welcome Please book by Sunday 9th November. Telephone Ann on 07743 093765.

The annual blessing of the graves will take place this Sunday, 2nd November (see diary in ’Events & Notices’ for details) and throughout November, we will have the Books of Remembrance in the church. Please come and write in names of loved ones who have died in the past year (no need to rewrite names from previous years).  On 22nd November, please join us for a special Memorial Mass to pray in particular for loved ones who have died this year, and all those who are bereaved. All are welcome.

For five consecutive first Saturdays of the month, with the intention of making reparation for the offenses against the Immaculate Heart of Mary, we are asked to: 1 – Go to Confession (may be 8 days before or after, if you are in a state of grace) 2 – Receive Holy Communion (can be received at a Saturday evening anticipatory Mass) 3 – Pray five decades of the Rosary 4 – Keep Our Lady company for 15 minutes while meditating on one or more of the mysteries of the Rosary. The Promise Our Lady promised to assist all those who will practice the devotion of the first Saturday on five consecutive months with the graces necessary for salvation at the hour of their death

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, This Sunday we celebrate the beautiful feast of All Saints. This day reflects the full wonder of the family of the Church. Throughout the year, we celebrate the feasts of those who, through canonization, are set before us as examples, teachers and guides – those who through their martyrdom, their teaching, the witness of their lives inspire us on our pilgrim journey. We seek their intercession in our need. Today we remember the countless numbers of people - “a huge number, impossible to count, from every nation, race tribe and language” as St John described them in today’s first reading, who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith. They are our family members, our friends, fellow parishioners, people we have known and loved, people we have never known. They too, like the canonized saints, pray for us. They have attained the destiny that the Lord won for us through His passion, death and resurrection – that live in the love of God in its completeness for all eternity. In the second reading, the same John who wrote the Apocalypse – this time in his first letter – offers us this wonderful hope: “What we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed; all we know is that when it is revealed we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as he really is.” To know God in his fullness, to be LIKE Him – this is the hope of a love beyond anything we could possibly know in this life, for it is completeness, wholeness, peace and utter joy. St John also reminds us in the letter that we must, in this life, prepare ourselves for this destiny-beyond-description. The beatitudes of today’s Gospel provide a sure guide for our pilgrim journey. Reflect on these words of Jesus: poverty of spirit, gentleness, acceptance of sadness, desire for all that is right, mercy, purity, striving for peace, acceptance of persecution and difficulty on account of our following of Him. This the way we are called to follow.  Let us rejoice, then, in all those who share the wonder of heaven and, enriched by the gift of hope, follow the way that leads to life. Let us become a community of saints. With every blessing, + Richard